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Saturday, January 28, 2012

This receipt was never officially used (except for some calculations scrawled on the back), and it's not tremendously fascinating. But I wanted to post it because the Internet is lacking in detailed information about Landis Stone Meal Company and its history. So this helps add to the online knowledge base on that (admittedly obscure) topic.

This "Customer's Copy" receipt indicates that H.K. Landis was manager of the company. There were two phones -- at a residence and quarry in Elizabethtown. And the company made poultry grit1, mineral and pulverized limestone.

Here's what else I was able to dig up about Landis Stone Meal Company:

It was chartered as a Pennsylvania corporation, based in Rheems2, Lancaster County, on October 14, 1915. It had capital of $25,000 and was chartered for "manufacturing and selling stone meal and kindred products."

A 1922 Penn State University bulletin on Pennsylvania's mineral industries indicates that Landis Stone Meal Co. had P.K. Landis as president and H.K. Landis as general manager. It had capital of $30,000 and production of 6,330 tons. There were seven employees and the annual wages were $6,500.3

"Two miles south of Rheems there is another active quarry (No. 9), also in Beekmantown limestone4, belonging to the HK Landis Stone Meal Co. The quarry is 50 feet square and about 25 feet deep and is equipped with tracks, crusher plant, and bins. There are three crushers and rolls..."

I don't know what eventually became of Landis Stone Meal Company, but I did find some evidence that it was still in operation as late as the 1960s.

Footnotes1. Poultry grit is a material fed to birds that consists mainly of crushed stone, which helps a bird's digestive system grind food.
2. Rheems also appears in this March 16, 2011, Papergreat post: "Crown Coal, J.W. Wolgemuth and Wenger Feeds."
3. That's not $6,500 per employee. That figure would have been the total wages earned by all employees, combined, in a year.
4. Beekmantown is a geologic unit found throughout the Appalachian Basin. According to the National Geologic Map Database, it was named Beekmantown limestone for exposures at Beekmantown, in Clinton County, New York. The unit was previously called calciferous sand rock. In central Pennsylvania, Indian Echo Caverns and and Penn's Cave and Hotel are examples of natural attractions featuring Beekmantown limestone. More information on Beekmantown can be found here.

Reva Kern is a well-known designer of bookplates. According to the Penn State Special Collections Library, "she utilized a uniquely American method called the 'Provincetown Print' or 'White-Line Woodcut.' She wrote a history of the Provincetown Print, which can be read here.

Wednesday, January 25, 2012

I came across a hardcover copy of Cornelius Weygandt's1 "On the Edge of Evening" (The Autobiography of a Teacher and Writer Who Holds to the Old Ways).

Pasted to the inside front cover2 is a small card noting that the book was given as a gift 65 years ago -- in 1947.

The left side of the card states, in cursive:

"Arendtsville Lutheran Church
Mother-Daughter Banquet
May 14, 1947"3

And the right side of the card states:

"For Miss Clara Myers
in gratitude for your
contributions to the program."

Arendtsville is a small borough in Adams County, Pennsylvania, about eight miles northwest of Gettsyburg. The church mentioned is almost certainly Trinity Lutheran Church, which is located at 38 North High Street in Arendtsville and, as a congregation, dates to 1787.

"In his autobiography, 'On the Edge of Evening,' Weygandt reminisces about his childhood, having been different from most of his peers. He recalls the other children running and playing while he was busy with his texts or learning Latin. Most of his childhood friends were actually adults. He would spend his free time listening to stories from his Aunt Rachel or Lawrence Kelly, the family gardener, who would teach Weygandt rhymes as they worked together."

"Weygandt wrote with pride of the Pennsylvania Dutch. He even opposed the movement to correct the phrase to Pennsylvania German, on the basis that, to the world, they were Pennsylvania Dutch. He felt that most of the greatest things about their heritage would be forever tagged as Dutch. Dutch cookbooks, Dutch furniture, Dutch pretzels, and more would all be lost to their rightful owners if they insisted on being called Pennsylvania German."

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About the Author

I'm Chris Otto, a Pennsylvania resident and journalist whose hobbies and interests include old books, ephemera, history, folklore, alpacas, photography and much more. Never stop reading, learning and asking questions! I consider this blog to be a spiritual descendant of Microsoft Encarta and a companion to Wikipedia. Every piece of paper tells a story.
Reach me at chrisottopa (at) gmail.com.

As (kind of) featured in The New York Times...

Papergreat was mentioned in Stephanie Clifford's August 7, 2011, article in The New York Times titled "Shopper Receipts Join Paperless Age." Find out why, years ago, I held onto a receipt for a hot dog!

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